18 months of reporting. All eight Arctic countries. So many fascinating people. On the final episode of season two of Threshold , we pull back a little and try to see the big picture. Join us as we bust some myths, travel back in time in a Swedish forest, and search for roadmaps into the future.

Montana has more state parks than any other state in the Rocky Mountain region. Friday, the governor's Parks In Focus Commission released its recommendations for addressing the funding and maintenance challenges the state parks face.

Missoula attorney and Democratic State Representative Kimberly Dudik says she’s running to be Montana’s attorney general in 2020. Current Republican Attorney General Tim Fox can’t run again because of term limits. Dudik is the first candidate to announce a bid to replace him.

On the sixth anniversary of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Montana advocates for gun policy reform held a vigil in the state Capitol building to mourn the 20 students and six adult staff members who were shot and killed. Around 50 people gathered at the giant Christmas tree in the Capitol rotunda to remember what happened at the school in Newtown Connecticut six years ago, and others like it, since.

Two Montana conservation groups purchased a plot of land that could help establish safe passage for grizzly bears in a dangerous but crucial corridor for the spread of the species in Western Montana. Vital Ground Foundation and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative acquired 52 acres that could allow grizzlies and other wildlife to cross from the Ninemile area west of Missoula into the Bitterroot mountains.

A federal judge in Great Falls Thursday heard arguments over whether the Trump administration lawfully lifted a ban on coal leasing federal lands. The Department of the Interior lifted the Obama-era moratorium on federal coal leasing in early 2017 , fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to end the so-called war on coal.

A former Montana high school athletic trainer accused of sexually abusing students under the guise of boosting their athletic performance was arrested Thursday after investigators found child pornography in his room in a Miles City retirement home, authorities said. Seventy-eight-year-old James Jensen was put in jail with a $100,000 bond and charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse of children for possessing the pornography.

A healthcare foundation has announced a big investment in Montana's youngest residents. "To be able to say that we are coming together to do this work, it just makes my heart sing, so thank you so much for being part of that effort," Brenda Solorzano, executive director of the Headwaters Foundation in Missoula said at a launch event today.

A federal judge in Great Falls will hear arguments on Thursday that could stop the Trump Administration from selling coal from federal lands. Four states, an Indian tribe and environmental groups are challenging the president overturning a ban on new coal leases put in place by the Obama administration.

Grizzly bears in and around Montana are moving faster than the people tasked with managing them. That’s the takeaway from the year-end update from the group of federal and state wildlife experts who met this week in Missoula. About 20 members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, an organization in charge of grizzly bear management and recovery, crowded around a conference table, discussing the six ecosystems designated as grizzly bear habitat south of Canada.

The Montana Supreme Court Wednesday struck down a 2015 state law allowing tax credits for donations to private religious schools. The court’s 5-2 ruling voids the dollar-for-dollar tax credit, up to $150, which passed, largely along party lines, out of the 2015 Montana Legislature.

Senator Steve Daines called the 2018 Farm Bill a win for Montana on a press call Wednesday morning. "Agriculture is our number one economic driver in Montana," Daines said. "The important outcome of passing the Farm Bill is that it provides certainty for Montana farmers and Montana ranchers in difficult times."

The Trump Administration’s plan to roll back an Obama-era policy designed to protect over half the nation’s waterways from pollution is drawing starkly different reactions in Montana. The Montana Wildlife Federation’s Dave Chadwick condemns the re-write of the so-called “Waters of the United States” policy as a sweeping mistake.

Both of Montana’s U.S. Senators are urging the Senate to pass the so-called Blue Water Veterans Act before the current Congress adjourns. That bill would extend benefits to vets who served on ships during the Vietnam War who may have been exposed to Agent Orange. At present, only troops who served on land are eligible.